Essentially the kid is a state BJJ champion, will be competing under modified (B-class) rules and by all accounts (at least from people who actually know him and understand the sport) he is more than capable. And in lieu of being able to find any competition for him at his age, why not?

And yet there are comments like this, from the ironically named 'SomeOneSmarter':

And yet there are comments like this, from the ironically named 'SomeOneSmarter':

I appreciate the concern the 'SomeOneSmarter' has for protecting young people, but I am not sure if he is being ironic or a f***tard with his other comments.

Regarding youth combat, I seem to recall in the movie "Boys' Town" a boxing match without headgear. I also recall boy's adventure heroes like Tintin and Billy Batson would get involved in fights all the time. Maybe we are becoming a world of over-protective people, or are we just realizing how stupid we were to let kids take those kinds of risks?

In the SCA teenagers used to fight with adults, then they banned the practice, presumably to protect themselves should a parent sue if their kid got hurt. Now there is "youth combat," in which kids from 7-15 fight with boffers, and 16-18 with rattan, and I think they are even allowing or experimenting with letting 16-17-year-olds fight with the grown-ups. this may be part of the SCA's growing trend towards looseining up their rules.

That having been said, major props for Ty for training hard enough to be ready for this kind of bout.